Mabry Family Beginnings

Most Mabry family researchers have determined they are descended from Francis Maybury and Elizabeth Gilliam of Surry, England and acknowledge various early spellings of the surname, which include Mayberry, Maybury, Maberay, Mabery, and the most common spelling, Mabry. Although early settlers of this family arrived in Virginia and first lived in Henrico, Surry, Brunswick and Lunenburg counties, some Mabry family members began a southward migration that took them into Fairfield County, South Carolina, Wilkes County, Georgia, Pickens District of Alabama, and later into several counties in Mississippi. Some of those who first settled in Mississippi later moved westward, including several areas in Texas.

According to the U. S. Census of 1850, 69 men, women, and children with the surname Mabry fesided that year in the State of Mississippi. These sixty-nine individuals lived in households that included a dozen couples named Easton and Ursula (Chickasaw County), James T. and Affa (Attala County), John and Sarah (Itawamba County), Jesse and Nancy (Madison County), Michael and Mary (Pontotoc County), Alexander and Clarinda (Attala County), Joel and Jane (Oktibbeha County), Frank B. and Mary E. (Desoto County), Benjamin T. E. and Lucy (Madison County), J. S. and Martha (Marshall County), William O. and Elizabeth M. (Desoto County), and Valentine and Ann L. (Attala County). Forty-five children lived in these twelve households.

Four adults with surnames other than Mabry were residents in two households. These names included J. C. Culbertson, Walter Bernard, Mary W. Logan, and Margaret V. Logan. Since the 1850 census does not specify relationships, it is impossible to determine how these four individuals were related to other members of the same household.

Of the twelve couples, four lived in Attala and Madison Counties.

Next: Mabry families in Attala and Madison Counties

Mabry Family in Mississippi

Like so many other families that migrated to Mississippi, the territory and the state, the Mabry family came from Virginia. Although I am not directly related to the Mabry family, I have heard the name mentioned by my Attala County relatives most of my life. Also, I have often seen the name in many family history resources I have searched on my quest for information about my own ancestors.

One of these resources was a book entitled, "Brunswick County, Virginia 1720 - 1975, Revised to 2000," written by Gay Neale, a gift from a distant Branch relative whose parents grew up in Southside Virginia. Ironically, Joel Mabry, Hinchia Mabry, and my great-great-great-grandfather, Edward Tillman Branch, were all residents of Southside Virginia. Even more ironic is the fact that Mabry and Branch descendants have been residents of Attala County, Mississippi for well over a century.

Beginning next week, I plan to publish a series of posts about the Mabry family of Attala County, Mississippi. Also, on Mississippi Memories's sister blog, Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek, I will be posting a series of photos of Mabry family grave stones in cemeteries in the Attala County area.

I hope you will join me here next week to read about this Attala County family.

Who was Dot Mabry?

The picture here is another "mystery photo" from my grandmother's picture album from long ago. A name appears on the back of the picture, written in childlike penmanship - that of "Dot Mabry."

The surname "Mabry" was a very well-known and well-respected name in Virginia during the 1700's. Sometime during the early 1800's, members of the Mabry family migrated to other colonies, and some of the family ended up settling in Attala County.

In Virginia, the patriarch of the Mabry family, Hinchia Mabry (often spelled "Mabury") already had ties to the descendants of Christopher Branch. So it does not seem unusual that I have discovered Branch family members living near Mabry family members on U. S. Census records dated during the 1800's in Attala County.

Although I have not discovered a direct relationship between my Branch ancestors and the Mabry family in Attala County, it is almost certain that intermarriages occurred between these two pioneer families during the 19th and 20th centuries. My grandmother apparently knew the people in the picture, or it would not have been included in her photo album. It is likely the children pictured attended either the Midway School or the school at Shrock, Mississippi. But all I have to go on is the name on the back of this picture.

Who exactly was Dot Mabry? Is she one of the young girls pictured in the photo, or was she the mother of the seven children pictured there? What was the connection, if any, of this family to the Branch family in Attala County? I am puzzled by the picture, and I would like to know how this family was connected to my grandmother. Why it was in her album, appearing next to known relatives.

Maybe a reader of this post, possibly a descendant of the Mabry family in Attala County, will help me solve the mystery.